European Training Network POLYSTORAGE

The development of advanced storage technologies to enable the integration of sustainable energy sources in the electric grid represents a major challenge for our society. In the last years, lithium-ion batteries attracted great attention and became the most known and widespread battery system in our society. However, since they contain toxic and/or scarce metals, e.g., cobalt and nickel, as well as flammable solvents, the development of more environmentally friendly and safer battery technologies represents a priority. Additionally, this technology is limited when flexibility, low cost, or even higher energy density are important. POLYSTORAGE will tackle these limitations by developing highly innovative polymer electrolytes and polymer active materials for advanced post-lithium batteries.

Polymers are currently applied in lithium-ion batteries mostly as additives and/or binders. The next generation of energy storage technologies needs new polymer innovations to solve current technological issues. In particular, novel polymer electrolytes, being compatible with advanced electrode materials (e.g., sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, lithium-metal, sodium-air) and displaying high ionic conductivity and mechanical stability, as well as innovative redox-active polymers for the use as active materials in emerging polymer-based battery technologies (polymer redox-flow batteries (pRFBs) and hybrid organic batteries) are urgently needed. The new polymers will be optimized for processing in semi-automatic or fully automatic pilot lines and the best performing system will be scaled up and integrated in real cell configurations by an industrial partner.